Safety wringer



June 19, 1934.

J. L. PERKINS AL SAFETY WRINGER Filed July 22 1931 2 Sheets-Skeet 1 WVFNTOR, 77m 6701?;

and

M6 flaw ATTORNEY.

June 19, 1934. J. L. PERKINS ET AL 1,963,244

SAFETY WRINGER Filed July 22. 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 W2 Zen 3 m M i M L r; M g k O 17 1W 1 40 from the head as is usual.

Patented June 19, 1934 UNITED STATES SAFETY WRINGER Julian L. Perkins, West Springfield, and Hiram D. Croft, Springfield,

Mass., assignors to Perkins Machine & Gear Company, West Springfield, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application July 22, 1931, Serial No. 552,411

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in wringer construction and is directed more particularly to wringers or mangles having incorporated therein certain features of construction to safeguard the operator against injury.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of a wringer including a driving member and driven member which may be easily disengaged to safeguard the operator against injury.

10 This is accomplished by the provision of means for engaging and disengaging the driving connections between said driven element and the driver therefor, and includes a manually operable member or' members disposed in such a way as to be readily accessible to the operator of the wringer,

whereby in the operation of the wringer the operator may quickly engage the same when danger is imminent.

Various novel features and advantages of the invention will be more fully referred to in connection with the accompanying detail description of the preferred form of the invention and which is disclosed in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the wringer Fig. 3 is a sectional elevational view through the wringer head taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a partial end elevational view of the left-hand end of the wringer shown in Fig. 4.

.36 Referring now to the drawings in detail the invention will be fully described.

A wringer head is represented at 2 and a wringer is represented at 4. These are associated so that the rolls of the wringer may be operated The head includes a casing or housing 6 which serves as a support and has a cover 8 which is secured thereto in some suitable manner, while a supporting tube 10 extends downwardly from the casing. The tube may be of such form as to serve as a supporting and side bars 20 secured together in a suitable manner and it is ordinary for the upper bar to be removable from the frame so that the upper roll may be withdrawn. A lug or lugs 22 on one of the members 20 is secured to suitable ears 24 of the casing 6, whereby the frame and housing are securely fixed together.

A shaft 30, called the driving shaft of the wringer, is suitably journalled therein for rotation and carries a wringer drive roll 32. An upper shaft 34 of the wringer carries a driven roll 36 which contacts with the lower roll 32 and is driven therefrom.

The upper driven roll 36 may be spring presse against the lower roll and may as well be removable from the frame when the upper member 18is removed in any of the various wellknown ways.

A driven shaft 40 is rotatable in the casing 6 and a cover plate 8 is removably carried by the easing. The shaft 40 is connected to the shaft 30 by means of a separable coupling construction indicated generally by 42. Driven gears 46 are in mesh with the driving pinion 14 and are arranged to rotate freely on the shaft 40. her 50 is non-rotatable relative to and slidable on the shaft 40 by means of a key and slot construction 52 as shown.

The opposite faces of the clutch member 50 carry clutch lugs 56 as shown in Fig. 3 which are engageable with similar lugs 58 on the inner sides of the gears 46. As stated, the member 50 is slidable but non-rotatable on the shaft 40 so that it may be shifted in one direction or the other whereby its driving lugs will engage the lugs of the gears 46. Accordingly as one or the .other of the gears 46 is in clutching engagement with the clutch member 50 one or the other of the gears will be locked to the shaft. In this way the shaft 40 is driven in one direction or the other but when the member 50 is in the neutral position, as it is shown, midway between the gears, neither of the gears 46 are locked to the shaft. This neutral position may be called a safety position. I

The member 50 is provided with a peripheral groove in which freely rides a collar 66. The collar may be split and bolted together for assembling purposes and a stud 60 extends upwardly therefrom and through a slot 64 inthe upper side of the casing.

Said slot 64 is disposed in an angular relation with respect to the axis of the shaft 40 and as the stud 60 is moved to rotate the member 66 it moves along the 'slot so that the members 50 and 66 are moved axially of the shaft 40. This brings the lugs of the member 50 into engagement with A clutch memthe lugs of either of the gears 46, whereby one of the gears is clutched to the shaft 40.

A yoke member 70 is fixed to the rod 60 above the casing and shifting rods 72 extend therefrom at opposite sides of the wringer. A lever 74 is oscillatable on the shaft 30 outside the left-hand frame 20 and receives the outer ends of the rods As the operator stands at a side of the wringer the rod '72 between the operator and the wringer may be grasped to move it in one direction or the other. Or in other cases the operator has but to bear or lean against the rod for forcing the rod towards the wringer. As the rod is moved the member 60 is moved along the slot 64 to thereby move the members 66 and 50 axially of the shaft 40 to engage and disengage the clutching members 56 and 58.

For instance, it will be assumed that the operator is standing in front of the wringer as it is shown in Fig. 1. The shaft 12 may be rotated so as to rotate the gear 14 in the direction of the arrow. When the member 50 is in engagement with the left-hand gear 46 the gear 13 will rotate the lower roll 30 in the direction of the arrow so that the operator may feed the clothes forwardly between the rolls. In the position stated when the operator contacts with the rod '72 disposed between himself and the wringer so as to press on the rod '72 the rod 60 willbe moved along the slot 64 to disenga e the gear 46 and the member 50. I

The operator may instantly and quite involuntarily, in case of emergency, lean forwardly and contact some part of .the rod with the arm or some part of the body to disengage the driving and driven members within the casing, and thereby instantly the operation of the wringer is stopped so that the operator is adequately safeguarded.

Various changes and modifications may be made in the form of the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and what we desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A wringer structure comprising in combination, a support having wringer rolls and driving and driven shafts associated therewith, engageable and disengageable driving connections for said shafts, means for engaging and disengaging said connections including a shiftable member which is reciprocable on said support relative to the axis of one of said shafts,-a stud and slot associated with said support and member the latter of which is disposed in an angular relation transversely of said last-named shaft whereby the member is reciprocated as it is oscillated and an operating rod extending along said wringer connected to said member whereby it is movable towards and away from the axes of rotation of said rolls to move said shiftable member.

2. A wringer structure comprising in combination, a support having wringer rolls and driving and driven shafts associated therewith, a driving member and a driven member on said shafts, a shiftable member reciprocable on said driven shaft to clutch said driven member thereto, a collar member rotatable on said shiftable member, the said support having a slot therein disposed at an angle and transversely to the axis of said driven shaft and a cam rod on said shiftable member receivable in saidslot, an operating rod extending along said wringer connected to said cam rod, all adapted and arranged whereby the operating rod may be moved transversely to the axes of said rolls to shift said collar member.

3. A wringer structure comprising in combination, a support having wringer rolls and a driving and a driven shaft associated therewith, driving and driven gears on said shaft, a shiftable member reciprocable on said driven shaft, engageable parts associated with said driven gear and shiftable member, a collar relatively rotatable on said member having a cam stud associated therewith, the said support having a cam slot receiving said cam stud which is disposed at an angle and transversely of the axis of said driven shaft and an operating rod connected to said cam stud extending along said wringer rolls, all adapted and arranged whereby the rod may be moved towards and away from the said rolls to operate said collar.

4. A wringer structure comprising in combination, a support having wringer rolls and a driving and a driven shaft associated therewith, driving and driven gears associated with said shafts, a shiftable member reciprocable and nonrotatable on said driven shaft, engageable parts associated with said member and with said driven member, a collar relatively non-reciprocable and rotatable on said shiftable member, the said support being provided with a cam slot disposed at an angle and transversely to the axis of said driven shaft, a cam stud associated with said collar working in said cam slot and operating rods connected to said cam stud disposed at opposite sides of said wringer extending along said sides, all adapted and arranged whereby the rods may be moved towards and away from said rolls to operate the collar.

5. A wringer structure comprising in combination, a support having a wringer associated therewith which includes end frames and driving and driven rolls, drive and driven shafts, a drive gear on said drive shaft and driven gears meshing therewith rotatable on said driven shaft, a shiftable member nonrotatable and reciprocable on said driven shaft, having means for engaging parts on said driven members, a collar relatively rotatable and non-reciprocable on said shiftable member, the said support provided with a cam slot disposed at an angle and transversely to the axis of said driven shaft, operating rods extending along opposite sides of said wringer connected at one end to a cam stud associated with said collar and receivable in said cam slot, the said rods being supported at their opposite ends by a part pivoted for swinging movements relative to one of said frames.

6. A wringer structure comprising in combination, a support having wringer rolls associated therewith, a driven shaft for said rolls and a driven shaft, engageable connections between said shafts including a shiftable member for engaging and disengaging the same which is mounted for reciprocating movements an oscillatable member thereon, a stud extending from said oscillatable member, the said support provided with a slot receiving said stud which is angularly disposed relative to the axis of movement of said member to bring about reciprocation thereof as it is oscillated and operating means associated gaging and disengaging the same which is mounted for reciprocating movement an oscillatable member thereon, a stud extending from said oscillatable member, the said support provided with a slot receiving said stud which is angularly disposed relative to the axis of movement of said member to bring about reciprocation thereof as it is oscillated and operating means associated with said stud extending from end to end of the wringer disposed to lie in the path of the arms of an operator of the wringer, the said operating means including a rod member and a bracket member at its outer end which is pivoted to said support at a point remote from said engageable connections.

8. A wringer structure comprising in combination, a support having wringer rolls associated therewith, a driven shaft for said rolls and a drive shaft, engageable connections between said shafts including a shiftable member for engaging and disengaging the same which is mounted for reciprocating movements an oscillatable member thereon, a stud extending from said oscillatable member, the said support provided with a slot receiving said stud which is angularly disposed relative to the axis of movement of said member to bring about reciprocation thereof as it is oscillated and operating means associated with said stud extending from end to end of the wringer disposed to lie in the path of the arms of an operator of the wringer, the said operating means including rods at either side of said rolls connected at inner ends to said first-named stud and a member connected to the outer ends of said rods which is pivoted to said support.

9. A wringer structure comprising in combination, a support, wringer rolls having shafts journall'ed therein for independent rotation, one of said shafts acting as a driven shaft, a drive shaft, driving mechanism associated with said shafts including a connecting and disconnecting shiftable member movable between operative and inoperative position to connect and'disconnect' the said mechanism whereby the driven shaft may be driven by or disconnected from the said drive shaft, and an operating member extending parallel to said rolls andconnections therefrom to said shiftable member, the said operating member being disposed in the path of the arms of an operator and being mounted for movements towards and away from the rolls, all adapted and arranged whereby when the said operating member is moved towards the rolls the shiftable member disconnects the driving mechanism so that said rolls are free to rotate independently ofthe mechanism and independently of one another to facilitate the withdrawal of an object from between said rolls.

10. A wringer structure comprising in combi-. nation, a support, wringer rolls having shafts journalled therein for independent rotation, one of said shafts acting as a driven shaft, a drive shaft, driving mechanism associated with said shafts including a connecting and disconnecting shiftable member movable between operative and inoperative position to connect and disconnect from the said mechanism whereby the driven shaft may be driven by or disconnected from said driven shaft and an operating member extending parallel to said rolls and connections therefrom to said shiftable member, the said operating member being disposed above the plane of the axis of the lower roll and in the path of the arms of an operator and being mounted for movements towards and away from the rolls, all adapted and arranged whereby when the said operating member is moved towards the rolls the shiftable member disconnects the driving mechanism so that said rolls are free to rotate independently of the mechanism and independently of one an- JULIAN L. PERKINS. HIRAM D. CROFT. 

